Dino card No. 0280 of 2,027

Bobosaurus

Say it: BOB-oh-SORE-us

Name means: “Bob's lizard, named after a person named Bob”1

Ate: MeatSea reptilesLate TriassicNot technically a dinosaur

Bobosaurus was a big marine reptile that lived in the sea during the Late Triassic, about 228 to 223 million years ago. It was a relative of plesiosaurs and had a long neck and strong flippers for swimming.1

Fun fact: this sea reptile swam while dinosaurs walked on land. Everyone calls them dinos, but they were a different branch of reptiles.

Lived

237 to 234 million years ago5

Late Triassic

Fossils found in

Rio del Lago Formation, northeastern Italy1

Food

Meat2

Length

3 m1

estimate

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

as long as 3 dogs nose to tailas long as 17 bananas end to end

How big was Bobosaurus compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

cool stuff

Fun facts

Bobosaurus was named in 2006 by paleontologist Fabio M. Dalla Vecchia.1

The only known fossil is a partial skeleton that includes parts of the skull, neck, body, tail, and limbs.3

Bobosaurus had very high spines on its back vertebrae, similar to another marine reptile called Nothosaurus.3

Its ribs had a special hook-shaped process called an uncinate process, which is also seen in the placodont Paraplacodus.3

Bobosaurus lived during the Carnian age of the Late Triassic, about 237 to 233.6 million years ago.2

Scientists think Bobosaurus was a surface swimmer with a stiff body and large front flippers.3

AI-made picture of Bobosaurus — An AI-made picture of how Bobosaurus might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Bobosaurus

?How big was Bobosaurus?

It was a relatively large animal, more than 3 metres long.1

?What did Bobosaurus eat?

Scientists think it was an active predator that hunted mobile prey, like fish or other sea creatures, in shallow seas.4

?Was Bobosaurus a dinosaur?

No, it was a marine reptile called a sauropterygian, related to plesiosaurs, not a dinosaur.1

?When did Bobosaurus live?

It lived during the Late Triassic, about 228 to 223 million years ago, in the Carnian age.1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Bobosaurus
Named by: Dalla Vecchia 20065
Group: Sea reptiles
Family / clade: Pistosauria5
Classification: Sauropterygia5
Age of the rocks: 237 to 234 million years (Carnian)5
Rock formations: Rio del Lago5
Countries: Italy5
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database5
Discovery: Bobosaurus was named by Fabio M. Dalla Vecchia in 2006 based on a partial skeleton found in the Rio del Lago Formation in northeastern Italy.1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure if Bobosaurus was a pistosaurid or a closer relative of plesiosaurs.1

Where the facts come from

Bobosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
A NEW SAUROPTERYGIAN REPTILE WITH PLESIOSAURIAN AFFINITY FROM THE LATE TRIASSIC OF ITALY | RIVISTA ITALIANA DI PALEONTOLOGIA E STRATIGRAFIA (riviste.unimi.it)
COMMENTS ON THE SKELETAL ANATOMY OF THE TRIASSIC REPTILE BOBOSAURUS FOROJULIENSIS (SAUROPTERYGIA, PISTOSAUROIDEA) (museofriulanostorianaturale.it)
Bobosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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